Saturday, April 13, 2013

The first was the best...Some bands need time to get up to stride; others come up with their best stuff when they still toiled in relative obscurity. BTO fits in the latter. Their first album is easily their best, starting off right away with "Gimme Your Money Please", a tune sure to please with the heavy guitar riffs and snarling vocals of C F Turner. That's followed by "Hold Back the Water", which was the flip side of the single "Blue Collar", which is also great. You may remember "Blue Collar" as a bluesy tune; unfortunately the band never explored that side of their music much, because this track works. Other good tracks include "Stayed Awake All Night" and "Down and Out Man", a rare vocal by early member Tim Bachman. Commercial success probably led them to go down the safe and easy path with subsequent releases, although their fourth album "Four Wheel Drive" rebounds a bit before the band personnel changed and BTO plummeted. This album and "Four Wheel Drive" are the ones you want. If you're a fan, the other albums work, too. But this is their best one, hands down.(By Mark R. Van Wagenen)

2 comments:

BTO albums from years, witnessed the establishment of on my shelves ... I like the music these guys!On the BTO website, Robin Bachman claims that only Randy was ever a Mormon (That means no drugs or alcohol. Or even coffee or tea.). As leader of the band, Randy pushed the idea that they were all Mormon on the media even though it wasn't true. The name is a combination of the members' last names and Overdrive, the trucker magazine. Legend has it that Randy and Frank were sitting around a table at a Husky Restaurant (which is a big "Truck Stop" chain in Canada) and they were tryin to think of a name for the band. Randy was reading the magazine and said as a joke, "We should name ourselves Overdrive." (overdrive) borrowed from the magazine for truck drivers.

Contrary to popular belief, the fire of BTO did not rise from the ashes of The Guess Who, at least not directly. After taking a hiatus from Canada's greatest supergroup of the time, Randy Bachman released his first solo venture, 1970's AXE.

Despite it's less than enthusiastic response, he still officially announced his departure from The Guess Who and by the beginning of 1971 had formed Brave Belt with younger brother Robbie on drums, former bandmate with The Expressions Chad Allan and longtime friend C F (Fred) Turner on bass. The band was signed by Reprise Records in April and released their self-titled debut a month later. Despite spawning two singles "Crazy Arms, Crazy Eyes" and "Rock & Roll Band", the record didn't exactly set the world on fire. BRAVE BELT II was released in the winter that same year. Again two singles came from it, "Never Comin' Home" and "Dunrobin's Gone". Even though this effort was also met with mixed response, the sound Brave Belt incorporated would become integral ingredients in the formation of Bachman Turner Overdrive.

Problems with management about the direction Brave Belt was going had begun to surface by mid 1972 and the tour in support of the second album was cancelled half-way through. Bachman and company nonetheless continued to play Canada coast to coast independently. The band by this time had also already replaced Allan with Randy and Robbie's brother Tim, who'd dropped out of college to join the group.-->>>

In 1973 The band Bachman-Turner Overdrive signed with Mercury Records.(BTO was rejected by 25 record companies before being signed to Mercury Records.)

After sending a demo tape to Mercury Records, the newly renamed band was signed by Charley Fach and released Formation debut album was released on May 1, 1973 Recorded at RCA Studios, Toronto, Canada was entitled, "Bachman-Turner Overdrive."The hard-driving sound of "Give Me Your Money Please" mixed with the blues overtones of tracks like "Blue Collar" made it a hit.a jazzy change of pace That gives guitarist / leader Randy Bachman, the chance to show off his best Les Paul and Wes Montgomery licks, "Hold Back the Water," whose solo section has a disco beat (years before it was fashionable), Anticipating the '80s work of ZZ Top, and the Concluding "Thank You For The Feeling," a Blatant but nonetheless enjoyable rewrite of the Stones live version of "Sympathy For the Devil." album enjoys moderate popularity in the U.S. and Canada. Soon after, Tim Bachman replaced Blair Thornton. The breakthrough for the band was a long American tour and album Bachman-Turner Overdrive II (fourth place on the album charts in the U.S.) "Let It Ride" was the first single and gave a hint of things to come and the monster "Takin' Care of Business" - single went on the twelfth place of local charts. The song actually stemmed from an old song Randy tried to record with The Guess Who as "White Collar Worker". Other hits included "Welcome Home" and the lead-off track "Blown". Tim left the group following the subsequent tour to be replaced by Blair Thornton.Third album, Not Fragile, in the summer of 1974, which proved even more successful than the previous one. reached the summit in the U.S., and performed by Bachman's distinctive voice breaking on "You Is not Seen Nothing Yet" reached the second place in the UK.After releasing the puck Tim Bachman left the band, and in its place came Blair Thornton. The band returned in 1977 with the album "Freeways". Immediately after his release he left Randy, who decided to create another group - Ironhorse. August 13, 1977 Rock group Bachman-Turner Overdrive ended activity. The reason for collapse was the start of his solo career by Randy Bachman. Randy went to the place of Jim Clench and in this lineup the band recorded two more albums - "Street Action" and "Rock n 'Roll Nights". The musicians decided to shorten the name of the team - since 1978, it was a BTO. At the end of 1979 the band split...later revived several times, but for me it was no longer the same.Best Regards,all the best,Adam.